HPD widow's suit against city revived

A federal appeals court on Friday reversed a Houston judge's decision to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit filed against the city by Houston police Sgt. Joslyn Johnson, the widow of an officer shot to death five years ago this month by an undocumented immigrant.

Joslyn Johnson has filed four lawsuits since her husband's death, including a 2008 wrongful death claim against the city.

In 2009, she filed the civil rights lawsuit against the Houston Police Department and the city seeking to reverse its revised policy that prevents officers from communicating with federal officials to determine the immigration status of detained persons. She claimed the policy violated her constitutional free speech rights as a police officer.

Quintero, who was previously deported after charges of indecency with a child, was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. The widow's civil rights claim alleged that he was detained at least three times by police before his encounter with Rodney Johnson and that HPD's failure to discover Quintero's status or to report him to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement enabled him to have the opportunity to fatally shoot Rodney Johnson.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt dismissed that case in an opinion last September that said Joslyn Johnson's earlier wrongful death lawsuit, most of which had been dismissed, barred her from raising new claims in a similar civil rights case.

A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel disagreed, saying the cases challenged different HPD policies - the one in force at the time of Rodney Johnson's death and a later revision.

An update after Rodney Johnson's death allows officers to check the "wanted status" of anyone ticketed, arrested or jailed through a federal database, but prohibits officers from contacting ICE unless they get a "hit" indicating the person has an outstanding criminal immigration warrant, removal order or detainer notice.

"Her lawsuit was really about having the ability to not be prohibited from contacting ICE on the street," said Ben Dominquez II, Joslyn Johnson's lawyer.

"Now Judge Hoyt is going to have the ability to take a real, clean, fresh look at what is going on with city policy, how it is affecting police officers, what they can do and not do and I think he'll be able to make a better decision," he said.

City Attorney David Feldman could not be reached immediately for comment.